Pay to stay

Santa Rita Jail is a scary place, so scary apparently that Fremont thinks crooks might pay not to stay there.

It was mentioned in that report on saving money, but the department has been working on a proposal by which minor offenders could pay to spend their short jail time in the much friendlier confines of Fremont’s jail. The city thinks the proposal could net it $300,000 per year.

Here is the description from that report mentioned above:

The model being developed by the Police Department is termed a “pay to stay” system. It involves offering prisoners who have received jail sentences for low level crimes (misdemeanants) the opportunity to pay a fee to opt out of the County jail facility (Santa Rita) and serve time in what could be considered a safer, less intimidating, facility.

Although this model is not common, mainly because few cities in California have built their own detention facilities, there are several southern California cities that have successfully used this model to generate revenue and offset the costs of operation.